Let’s Do Welcome COPS
The TV show COPS has chosen to film right here in Bernalillo County. I am so excited and upbeat about this really great development for our city and county. I can’t for the life of me fathom why the mayor and other gov officials are pushing this great opportunity away, distancing themselves from COPS, because if there’s one thing we do well around here, it’s run away from the police. I have no idea why we run away from police around here, but we do, and fortunately that’s what COPS is all about—running away from the police...
Not Just Fiftieth
Sadly, in New Mexico we are used to hearing that we are fiftieth on the lists that measure poverty, health care, employment, prison overcrowding, or what percentage of our high school students graduate. From year to year we compete with Mississippi for the dishonor. Sometimes we are only second from last, sometimes at the very bottom.
One percent of New Mexicans enjoy 72.6% of our economic growth. That same 1% has shown an increase in income of 119.3%, with only ten other states showing a larger percentage of growth for their top tier. Overall real income growth in New Mexico, from 1979 to 2007, was only 14%, making it the seventh lowest among all fifty states...
Feminism revisited on the Albuquerque stage
A full-throated debate over women’s equality might seem to be a pointless rhetorical replay of the arguments of our parents or even our grandparents. But that turns out to be hardly true.
As illustration recall the passage from Just Fly the Plane, Stupid, the new memoir by our own congressman, Republican Steve Pearce, in which he said he and his wife agreed to follow a biblical injection that a woman would follow her husband and be subordinate to him.
A similar theme is debated in Rapture, Blister, Burn, a thoughtful new play at the Aux Dog Theater in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill, which will have its last performances 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday after a three-week run...
She Who Wears the Pants
The headline of the February 20, 2014 issue of La Prensa stated that Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua had fired two Cabinet ministers. In the first paragraph of the accompanying article, however, it said that differences with First Lady, Rosario Murillo had led to their ouster. In Nicaragua, a cab driver named Ismael told us, “Whatever she says, he does.” Or to quote a man on horseback in Granada, “It’s she who wears the pants"...
Weekly Poem: Villagrá’s Lament
I. Qualacú
the guiding
light of our journey across this
mesquital was
the cerro indio moon’s pale
cantankerous shine.
We
followed
Oñate north across
the desert
winds rippled
the river into mud, the
bosque disappeared into
the badlands...
Six Degrees of Separation?
Six degrees of separation has become a cliché, or at the very least a metaphor for the idea that chance and science are linked in connecting us. We are surrounded by a variety of circumstantial evidence attesting to the fact that we touch one another in ways we may find surprising. The oft-mentioned “global village,” and other versions of “togetherness” as desirable states pop up at unexpected times and in the least likely places.
Yet despite the apparent shrinkage of modern day life, we have never been more separate...
The Root Cause of Northern New Mexico’s Drug and Alcohol Problems
A quick perusal of the NM Department of Health Substance Abuse Epidemiological Profile for New Mexico, 2013 shows that NM:
-Has an alcohol-related death rate that’s 1.9 times higher than the national average
-Has the highest drug-overdose rate in the entire country
-Has a suicide rate that’s 2 times the national average
Without any doubt, Northern New Mexico owns the worst reputation for drug-related issues, as Rio Arriba County owns the state’s highest drug related death rate. The data shows that we, as a community, MUST do something to try and get our drug usage and death rates lowered. But what do we do?...
The Deportee Chronicles: Life After Diesel Therapy
Fernando Santos’ life these days doesn’t exactly fit his old nickname:“Drifter.” Instead of wandering the land, the former U.S. resident takes care of others who answer the call of the road at the budget hotel he manages in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
An easy-going man with a stocky build and a ready laugh to boot, Santos says he could never imagine how his life would eventually turn out when he was a young man gangbanging on the streets of Los Angeles and Denver...
Axe’s “Make Love, Not War” Superbowl Ad
As part of Axe's #kissforpeace campaign, Axe first debuted this ad for their new product, Axe Peace, on the internet and then revealed a shorter version during the commercial breaks of the Superbowl. The ad’s tagline, “Make Love, Not War,” initially seems to indicate that this ad will be different from Axe’s usual sexist romps. And while the ad does attempt to dismantle stereotypes about race, terrorism, and war, it ends up reinforcing them. In addition, Axe’s portrayal of romance on the battlefield is disturbing for the ways it erases violence against women during war and glorifies colonialism...
A decade of 100% defense against anti-conservation bills at the NM Legislature
For the 10th year in a row, Conservation Voters New Mexico (CVNM) and our allies successfully defeated every anti-conservation measure introduced in the state legislature during the 2014 New Mexico Legislative session which ended yesterday at noon.
I am so proud to be a part of this conservation legacy that CVNM is continuing for the people of New Mexico. For a decade CVNM has been on the frontlines, fighting the good fight, protecting our air, land, and water for a healthy Land of Enchantment...